Orthopaedic splint



y 1969 F. M. WESTLAKE ETAL 3,454,002

ORTHOPAEDI C SPLINT Filed Feb. 28. 1966 INVENTORS FRANK M. WESTLAKE FIG4United States Patent 3,454,002 ORTHOPAEDIC SPLINT Frank M. Westlake,Oakville, Ontario, and Gabriel J. M. Van Der Heyden, Toronto, Ontario,Canada, assignors to Westlake-Van Der Heyden & Co., Oakville, Ontario,

Canada Filed Feb. 28, 1966, Ser. No. 530,672

Int. Cl. A61f /04 US. Cl. 128-87 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Animproved orthopaedic splint is adjustable in length and has lockingmeans locking the splint in any one of several predetermined lengths.The splint according to the present disclosure includes a pair of limbsupporting members which are both divided into a tubular portion and arod portion which is slidable within the tubular portion to adjust thelength of the splint. Locking means is provided for locking the firsttubular members relative to the circular rod members and then thislocking means is adapted to be easily disengaged in response tocircumferential relative movement between the tubular member and the rodmember while exhibiting considerable resistance to longitudinal relativemovement between the tubular member and the rod member when the detentis in position within a recess.

This invention relates to an orthopaedic splint.

In particular this invention relates to an orthopaedic splint which isadjustable in length and adapted to be easily located in an operativeposition.

Known orthopaedic splints are of a very simple construction and includea continuous limb encircling ring and a pair of non-extendable limbsupport members extending from the limb encircling ring andinterconnected at their lower end to be disposed in an operativeposition relative to the limb. In order to ensure the availability ofsplints to suit limbs of various lengths it is necessary for hospitalsand other medical centres to carry a very large stock of splints.Furthermore, as the known splints have a continuous limb encircling ringat their upper end it is necessary to pass the ring over the entirelength of the limb in order to locate the splint in its requiredoperative position. This can be a very awkward process and can causeunnecessary suifering to the patient resulting from movement of thelimb. Considerable time is also wasted in selecting the required size ofsplint from a group of various sized splints.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an orthopaedicsplint which is adjustable in length to accommodate various limbs.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a splint which caneasily be located in an operative position.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a splint whichincludes a pair of adjustable limb support members adapted to beadjusted to vary the length of the support members and a limb encirclingmember including at least two releasably connected elements adapted tobe released to facilitate the location of the splint in a requiredoperative position.

With these and other objects in view the present invention provides anorthopaedic splint comprising a pair of limb supporting members havingadjustment means to permit adjustment of the length of the supportmembers as required in use and means for maintaining the support membersin an operative position to support a limb.

Another embodiment of the invention provides an orthopaedicsplintcomprising a pair of limb supporting members having means formaintaining said support members in an operative position to support alimb, said means in cluding an upper limb encircling means comprising atleast two releasably connected elements releasable to receive a limbtherebetween and connectable to encircle a limb.

The invention will be more clearly understood after reference to thefollowing detailed specification read in conjunction with the drawingswherein:

FIGURE 1 is a pictorial view of an adjustable splint according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a partial view of the upper end of the splint of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged view of the telescoping connection of the splintof FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 4 showing the method of releasingthe adjustment means.

With reference to FIGURE 1 of the drawings it will be seen that thereference numeral 10 refers generally to an orthopaedic splint used toprovide support for a limb such as the leg outlined in broken lines at12.

The splint 10 comprises upper limb encircling means 14 which includes abridge element 16 and a releasable element 18 connectable with oneanother as will be described hereinafter.

A pair of limb supporting members generally indicated at 20 areconnected to the limb encircling member 14 at their upper ends andextend downwardly therefrom to be connected at their lower ends by meansof a bridge 24. The bridge 24 and the limbs encircling member 14 serveto dispose the limb supporting members 20 in the required operativeposition relative to the limb 12.

An important feature of the present invention lies in the provision ofadjustment means in each of the support legs 20 to permit the length ofthe splint to be adjusted to accommodate various limbs. In theembodiment of the invention illustrated each of the support members 20include an upper rod member 26 which is rigidly connected to a hollowtubular member 28 by rivets 30. The support members 20 also have lowerrod members 32 which are adapted to fit within the bore of the tubularmembers 28 in a close fitting sliding relationship. It will be apparentfrom the aforegoing that the length of the splint can be adjusted bytelescoping the rod members 32 within the tube members 28. In order tolock the relatively telescoping elements in a required position the rods32 are provided with a plurality of recesses 34 which are adapted toreceive a ball 36 which is carried by the tubular members 28. A sleeve38 of an elastic material surrounds the ball and tubular members 28 inorder to maintain the ball 36 in its required position and to apply aforce to the ball tending to seat the ball in the recesses 34.

Turning to FIGURE 4 of the drawings it will be seen that the opening 40provided in the tubes 28 is of a greater diameter than the ball 36' sothat the ball may be moved outwardly of the recess 34 as required. Theball 36 is seated in the recess 34, thereby locking together the tube 28and the rod 32 to prevent longitudinal telescoping of these membersrelative to one another. Any attempt to telescope the tube 28 and rod 32in a longitudinal direction when the ball 36 is in the position shown inFIGURE 4 of the drawings requires the ball to rise out of the recess 3'4and due to the sharp lip of the recess in the longitudinal direction,excessive force, such as that not normally experienced by a splint inuse would be required.

In FIGURE 5 of the drawings it will be clearly seen that the recess 34is provided with areas 42 which serve to reduce the elfective depth ofthe recess 34 in a circumferential direction relative to the rods 3-2.Due to the reduction in effective depth of the recess 34 it requiresonly a moderate force to rotate the tube 28 relative to the rod 32 andthereby displace the ball 36 from the recess 34. When the ball 36 isdisengaged from the recess 34 the rod 32" is free to telescope relativeto the tube 28 to locate the ball 36 in any of the plurality of recesses34 provided in the rods 32. It has been found that this adjustment canbe made very easily by firmly securing the lower end of the splint, asby standing on it, and rotating the upper limb encircling means 14. Thishas the effect of twisting the entire assembly and causing relativerotation between the tubes 28 and the rods 32. The force required toeffect adjustment is dependent upon the effective depth of the recesses34 and the force applied by the elastic sleeve 38.

In FIGURE 2 of the drawings the limb encircling means 14 is shown indetail as comprising a bridge member 16 which interconnects the rods anda removable connecting element 18. The provision of a completelyremovable element 18 permits the splint to be used in the manner of theknown splint which do not completely embrace the upper end of the limband it simplifies the handling of the present splint. Also elements 18of various sizes can be employed as required in use. A feature of thebridge member 16 is the provision of a flattened area which has beenformed to increase the comfort of the patient when in a recliningposition, At the junction of the bridge member 16 and the rods 20' thereis a substantially U-shaped bend 44- which cooperates with the free ends46 of the member 18 as shown at 48 to form the limb encircling means 14.The free ends 46 of the member 18 are bent upon themselves to lockwithin the U-shaped bend 44 and are released by deflecting the member 16with respect to the member 18. The provision of a releasable element asa component of the limb encircling means permits the splint to belocated in its required position with the releasable elementdisconnected and then to connect the releasable element to complete thesplint. This construction has considerable advantage over the knownconstruction wherein it has been necessary to pass the limb embracingring over the entire length of the limb to its required location, Theknown splints are awkward to work with and can cause unnecessarysuffering to the patient in the process of locating the splint in itsrequired position.

The known splints are generally used in conjunction with a sling and itwill be apparent to those skilled in the art that the known slings canbe used with the splint of the present invention. The conventional typeof padding may also be employed around the limb encircling elements 16and 18. In the drawing, plastic sleeves 50 and 52 are shown surroundingthe elements 16 and 18 to prevent direct contact between the limb andthe metal frame.

Other embodiments and modifications of the present invention will beapparent to those skilled in the art. In particular it will be apparentthat alternative manually releasable telescoping support members may beemployed to permit the effective length of support members to beadjusted as required. Also it will be apparent that the limb embracingmember may employ alternative means for releasably connecting the twohalves thereof.

What we claim is:

1. In an adjustable orthopaedic splint the improvement comprising: apair of limb supporting members each having a first hollow tubularsection and a second circular rod section adapted to telescopicallyslide within said first section to vary the effective length of saidlimb supporting members, locking means for locking said second rodmember within said first tubular member to prevent relative longitudinaland rotational movement of said second rod member within said firsttubular member in any one of several predetermined positions providingseveral predetermined lengths of said limb supporting members, saidlocking means including a plurality of recesses formed in each of saidsecond members at predetermined intervals along the leng h of saidsecond members, passage means extending through each of said tubular'members and adapted to be aligned with the recesses formed in saidsecond members, a detent member slidably mounted in said passage means,a sleeve of elastomeric material surrounding said tubular member andsaid detent member and urging said detent member into engagement with arecess formed in said rod member, said sleeve of elastomeric materialbeing resiliently deformable to permit said detent member to moveradially out of engagement with said locking recess to permit telescopiclength adjustment of said splint, each of said recesses having detentrestraining wall portions disposed opposite one another and spacedlongitudinally of said second sections adapted to react against saiddetent to exert a substantial and uniform resistance to the initialdisplacement of said detent required to permit longitudinal relativemovement between said first and second members when said detent islocated in any one of said recesses, and each of said recesses havingdetent restraining wall portions disposed opposite one another andspaced circumferentially of said second sections and adapted to reactagainst said detent to exert a resistance to relative rotationaldisplacement of said second member to said first member which issubstantially less than the resistance to telescopic expansion andcontraction of said first and second member whereby length adjustmentmay be readily effected by rotating said first member relative to saidsecond member to displace said detent and then telescopically moving thefirst member relative to the second memher.

2. An orthopaedic splint as claimed in claim 7 wherein said detentmembers have a curved surface disposed toward said circumferentiallyspaced detent restraining walls of said recess and saidcircumferentially spaced detent restraining walls of said recess beingsubstantially shallower than said longitudinally spaced detentrestraining walls of said recess whereby said detent may easily beremoved from said recess by relative rotational movement between saidfirst and second members causing said detent to rise out of saidrecesses and pass over said shallow walls.

3. In an adjustable orthopaedic splint the improvement comprising: apair of limb supporting members each having a first hollow tubularsection and a second circular rod section adapted to telescopicallyslide within said first section to vary the effective length of saidlimb supporting members, locking means for locking said second rodmember within said first tubular member to prevent relative longitudinaland rotational movement of said second rod member within said firsttubular member in any one of several predetermined positions providingseveral predetermined lengths of said limb supporting members, saidlocking means including a plurality of recesses formed in each of saidsecond members at predetermined intervals along the length of saidsecond members, passage means extending through each of said tubularmembers and adapted to be aligned with the recesses formed in saidsecond members, a detent member slidably mounted in said passage means,a sleeve of elastomeric material surrounding said tubular member andsaid detent member and urging said detent member into engagement with arecess formed in said rod member, said sleeve of elastomeric materialbeing resiliently deformable to permit said detent member to moveradially out of engagement with said locking recess to permit telescopiclength adjustment of said splint, each of said recesses having detentrestraining wall portions disposed opposite one another and spacedlongitudinally of said second sections adapted to react against saiddetent to exert a substantial and uniform resistance to the initialdisplacement of said detent required to permit longitudinal relativemovement between said first and second members when said detent islocated in any one of said recesses, and each of said recesses havingdetent restraining wall portions disposed opposite one another andspaced circumferentially of said second sections and adapted to reactagainst said detent to exert a resistance to relative rotationaldisplacement of said second member to said first member which issubstantially less than the resistance to telescopic expansion andcontraction of said first and second member whereby length adjustmentmay be readily effected by rotating said first member relative to saidsecond member to displace said detent and then telescopically moving thefirst member relative to the second member, and limb encircling means atthe upper end of said splint comprising: an upper bridge member formedintegrally with and connecting the upper ends of said limb supportingmembers and extending substantially normal to said limb supportingmembers and having a suflicient extent to encircle a substantial portionof a limb, each end of said bridge member being joined to said limbsupport members by a substantially U-shaped connector portion, and adetachable substantially seIni-circular limb encircling member havingfree ends each bent radially inwardly upon itself to form a shoulderdetachably engageable within each of said U-shaped connector portions toform a complete limb encircling member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS RICHARD A. GAUDET, PrimaryExaminer. JOHN D. YASKO, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R.

